Evangelistic Efforts with Family: My Mother. August 17th, 2018
- hemadeusalive
- Aug 28, 2018
- 4 min read
Isaiah 43:11 “I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no Savior”
I take great pleasure in being able to write a post like this. Until this day, I thought I would never be able to approach my family with the Gospel. My previous attempts were shut down before I could even begin talking about the Law, let alone the good news. However, the Lord works in ways that I do not, and He softened my mother’s heart one night recently and allowed me to have the opportunity to share the Gospel with her.
Before I begin, I would like to say that , though she is not saved but professes to believe, this is monumental. As little as six months ago, this conversation would not have happened (I say this because before a conversation like this could happen, I was shut down). Praise be to God for even allowing me this opportunity to sow a seed, and please pray that He grows it. Praise be to God that He gave me words to say, just like in Luke 12. Seeing God work in this situation still touches my heart, and will for a long time to come. Without further ado, I will detail the events that transpired.
This coming semester, I am studying abroad in Europe (in fact, I am sitting in the airport as I write this). I won’t see my family for close to four months, and so my mother and I took a small weekend trip to spend some extra time together. On the first night we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner, and this conversation was born. She asked me about my missionary friends who live in Japan, and then we began to talk about the time she spent there on a trip. She described to me the different Shinto shrines and Buddha statues, and told me that if we ever went together that she would want to take me to see The Great Buddha Statue in Kamakura. I politely declined that offer, stating that I have no interest in going to see something like that. She asked me if it was because of my religion, and I responded with a yes, partly because it would make me sad to see people idolizing something, and partly because I don’t agree with Buddhist teachings and principles.
She then asked me if I thought that buddhists were going to hell. As a funny aside, I had just taken a huge bite of a sandwich, so I had some time to think about my response (thank God). I was truthful and intentional in my response, which was that I do think those people will go to hell, but not specifically because they are buddhists. Rather, they will go to hell because they, like the rest of humanity, sin– and sin warrants judgement. This judgement can only be absolved by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. I bluntly told her that He is the only way to salvation, to heaven. This small speech was originally met with a little hostility, and I began to panic inwardly. However, the Lord worked for His glory in this situation. Instead of shutting down the topic alltogether, my mom asked me what exactly I believed.
I didn’t give a monologue, but I did ask questions. Evangelism at the Oceanfront this past summer prepared me for this type of opportunity. I asked her if she thought that there was a standard by which we could know people are good or bad. She said that there had to be a standard, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to say that certain things were wrong. I asked her if she believed people were intrinsically good or bad, and she said bad. This was a relief to me! Sometimes, half the battle when evangelizing is getting people to see that they are not good (Mark 10).
I explained that the standard is God’s Law that He laid out for the Israelites in the Ten Commandments and wrote on our Gentile hearts. Then I began to walk through the Law with her, asking her if she had ever lied, stole, lusted, etc. She admitted that she had done all of these things, and I told her that a good judge would judge according to her trespasses, which would warrant hell. Thus, we need a Savior. Then I told her about the good news, that Christ came to be the Savior of all who believe and trust in Him. That He is God but came in the form of a man, led a sinless life, and died a sinner’s death on the cross to atone for the world’s sins.
By the end of the conversation, she told me that she didn’t disagree with anything I said. In fact, she said she agreed and believed what I believed. However, I know that the fruits of a Christian are different than the ones she bears, and that true repentance followed by living like Jesus is the Lord of your life must be a part of the Christian life. My one regret about the conversation we had is that I did not mention repentance at all. This is tough to think about, and I pray that I get the opportunity to soon.
Please pray for my mother’s salvation; pray that she would repent of her sins, believe in Christ, and trust in His salvific work on the cross. I am so overwhelmed with joy that I was able to sow the seed of the Gospel before I left abroad, and I pray that God would grow this seed. Additionally, please pray for my missionary friends in Japan and that they would delight in God’s Word and feel compelled daily to share it with the lost.
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